Shoe sewing machines



April 1955 F. c. EASTMAN 2,705,464

SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1952 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Invenfor FedCEa/siman April 5, 1955 EASTMAN 2,705,464

v SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invenfar Q 3fled GE'gzsZmczn United States Patent SHOE SEWING MACHINES Fred C.Eastman, Marblehead, Mass., assignor to United Shoe MachineryCorporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationAugust 7, 1952, Serial No. 303,064

8 Claims. (Cl. 112-46) United States Letters Patent Ser. No. 265,660,filed Janu ary 9, 1952, in the name of Alfred E. Clark and in anapplication Ser. No. 297,216, filed July 5, 1952, in the name of H. F.Schaefer.

In the construction of a platform type shoe it is customary to attach anupper to the margin of a sock lining projecting from a platform sole ofthe shoe with preliminary fastenings and then to sew one edge of a coverstrip to the registering attached edges of the upper and.

sock lining with a separate permanent seam. If an attempt is made to sewthe upper and cover strip, both in a single operation to a sock lining,requirements for high quality workmanship in guiding the edges of theparts necessitates such reduction in speed of attachment that more timeoften is taken to sew a shoe in a single combined operation than isneeded for attaching the upper and cover strip in two separatesuccessively performed operations. Furthermore, the machine of the Clarkapplication discloses a cover strip edge guiding device which iseffective for the purposes intended but which is comparativelycomplicated in its construction and requires expert adjustment in orderto render it capable of approaching effective economy in time for asingle combined upper and cover or wrapper strip sewing operation, ascompared with the time requirement for two separate sewing operationsfor these parts.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide aninexpensively constructed, simply operated and adjusted cover strip edgeguiding device for use in a machine of the type disclosed in theapplications above identified, which will render it possible to attachby sewing the registering edges of a shoe upper, a cover strip and asock lining mounted on a platform sole in a single operation withoutrequiring expert adjustment of the machine or requiring as much care orattention on the part of the machine operator to the movements of thecover strip through the machine as is necessitated by prior cover stripguiding devices. In the accomplishment of these and other objects, theillustrated machine has devices for feeding and performing an attachingor other operation along the edge of a cover strip, and an edge gageagainst which the strip and the other shoe parts are pressed widthwiseto maintain them in operating position, in which machine there isprovided a strip pilot in the form of an edge engaging roll for bringingthe strip into positive contact with the edge gage including meanslocated in advance of the pilot roll for pressing the strip positivelyinto engagement with the pilot roll for approximately 90 about itsperiphery to cause the pilot roll to apply a definite directional forceto the strip widthwise toward the edge gage. The angle between the edgeof the strip and a line of work feed passing through the edge gage issuch that the edge of the strip will be pressed widthwise toward theedge gage. The line of directional force applied to the strip by thepilot roll in the preferred construction of the machine forms an acuteangle with the line extending in the direction of work feed and passingthrough the guiding surface of the edge gage.

According to this feature, the edge drawing pilot roll is 3 2,705,464Patented Apr. 5, 1955 combined with a pilot abutment spaced along thepath of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, the pilotroll engaging the strip between the edge gage and the abutment tomaintain the strip uniformly in engagement with both.

These and other features of the invention, as hereinafter described andclaimed, will be apparent from the following detailed specification anddrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of .a portion of a machine embodyingthe present invention, with a slip lasted shoe shown in section andpresented in operating position to the machine;

Fig. 2 is a view in left side elevation of the parts of the machineshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail view, partly in section taken along the line III-IIIof Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 including a cover strip and otherparts of a shoe being operated upon;

Fig. 5 is a detail view in front elevation of the cover strip gage andcertain parts of the sewing machine of Fig. 1, indicating the manner inwhich the cover strip is directed toward the point of sewing operationon a shoe; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic developed view illustrating the manner ofdirecting the edge of the wrapper strip.

The illustrated machine is a lockstitch shoe sewing machine of the typedisclosed in the applications above referred to. The machine is intendedto sew a shoe upper and a two-part variable width platform cover orwrapper strip to a sock lining temporarily connected to the surface of aplatform sole, the edge of which is rabbeted to expose the under surfaceof the sock lining around the margin thereof, the stitches attaching theparts entering the rabbet of the platform sole.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, the shoeupper is indicated at 2, the sock lining at 4, the rabbeted platformsole to which the sock lining is temporarily connected at 6 and theplatform cover or wrapper strip at 8. While the sewing machine is beingoperated, the combined platform sole 6 and sock lining 4 are presentedto the operating point of the stitch forming and work feeding devices inthe machine with the under surface of the platform sole resting on awork support 10 and the rabbet in the platform sole surrounding a gage12 mounted on a swinging carrier 14 (see Fig. 1). The carrier 14 isactuated to swing the rabbet gage laterally to feed the parts operatedupon, the carrier also supporting a work clamping and feeding presserfoot 16 pivoted to the carrier and actuated to clamp and release theparts in timed relation to the work feeding movements thereof. Forassisting in work feed while inserting the stitches, the carrier 14 hasalso mounted thereon, for oscillation toward and from the parts operatedupon, a work penetrating curved eye-pointed needle 18. During backfeeding movement of the carrier 14, the needle and presser foot 16 aredisengaged from the work parts and the parts are clamped by a nonfeedingpresser foot 20 (see Fig. 2) cooperating with a non-feeding rabbet gage22 disposed in the direction of feed beyond the work feeding presserfoot 16 and rabbet gage 12.

For attaching the margins of the upper, sock lining and cover strip, itis necessary to maintain the edges always in register by pressing themedgewise against a work engaging surface of an edge gage 24 past whichthe work is moved by the work feeding and sewing devices. To maintainthe edges of the parts in engagement with the edge gage, it is necessaryfrequently to distort and flex the parts from a normal fiat condition,requiring close attention and substantial effort on the part of theoperator. To obtain uniformly high quality results, a continuousoperation of the prior machine ordinarily is impossible, it beingnecessary to stop frequently for manipulation of the parts as the seamconnecting them progresses. The necessity of frequent stopping,particularly when sewing relatively high-arch shoes, usually results inconsumption of more time than is required in sewing together, first theedges of the upper and sock lining with a preliminary seam and thenattaching the cover strip with a second seam inserted more deeply withinthe rabbet of the platform sole than the preliminary one. To reduce thetime and effort required in sewing together the upper, sock lining andcover strip of a slip lasted shoe on a sewing machine of the typereferred to, attempts have been made to provide that machine with aseparate cover strip guide which will perform its function with littleor no attention on the part of the operator, the operator concentratingall of his efiort on the single problem of bringing the edges of theupper and sock lining together into engagement with the edge gage 24.All of the cover strip guides, thus far devised, have requiredexpenditure of greater time and efifort on the part of the operator thanis warranted in an attempt to sew all three parts of a slip lasted shoetogether with a single attaching seam as compared to sewing withsuccessive operations.

The present cover strip guide is constructed for convenient attachmentto and adjustment on the frame of the illustrated machine and isoperable in advance of the edge gage to direct accurately the coverstrip 8, onto the shoe regardless of width or thickness and toward thesewing point of the machine with the edge of the strip drawn widthwiseinto positive contact with the surface of the edge gage 24 under allconditions, a minimum of effort and attention being required on the partof the operator. For this purpose there is attached to the machine framea slotted bracket 26 at the lower end of which is a strip edge pilotincluding a strip edge engaging guide abutment 28 on the bracket and anaxis provided by a pivot 30 fixed on the bracket at an angle to the lineof work feed, on which pivot is rotatably mounted a cylindrical roll 32acting along its periphery with frictional engagement for approximately90 about its periphery against a marginal portion of the cover strip 8between the edge gage 24 and the pilot abutment 28, to apply adirectional force to the strip.

For pressing the wrapper strip yieldingly into frictional engagementwith the roll 32 for 90 about its periphery, the pilot bracket 26 has apin 34 projecting at right angles to the pivot 30 and the pin 34 hasmounted on it for relative swinging movement a carrier in the form of aright angle plate 36 carrying an axis formed by a pivot 38 on which isrotatably mounted a second roll 40 (see Fig. 3), the axis of the pivot38 being parallel to that of pivot 30. The roll 40 is actuatedyieldingly toward the first roll 32 by a spring 42 coiled about a hubconnected to the plate 36 with the ends of the spring engaged with a pin43 on the pilot bracket 26 and with the plate respectively, the secondroll being located along the path of the strip in advance of the pilotroll. For adjusting the position of the pilot bracket 26 on the machineframe, the bracket is attached by a screw 44 passing through the slot inthe bracket and into an internally threaded lug on the machine frame,indicated at 46.

In use the pilot is engaged with one edge of the cover strip 8, therolls being separated sufficiently to receive between them the thicknessof the strip. The leading end of the cover strip to be attached to theshoe is first inserted between the rolls and pulled in a directionreverse to the movement imparted to the work in the machine by thefeeding devices. The leading end of the strip is then wrapped beneaththe pilot roll 32, bringing it into the direction of work feed andcarrying it into the sewing point of the machine with its edge engagingthe edge gage 24, as shown in Fig. 5. The location of the rolls, theedge gage 24 and the pilot abutment 28 is such that as the strip 8 movesin the direction of work feed, its edge is acted upon by the rollsbetween the edge gage and the pilot abutment 28 to. bring the edge ofthe strip into contact with both the edge gage and the pilot abutment.

The operation of the strip edge pilot may more readily be understood inconnection with the diagrammatic view of Fig. 6. In this view the edgegage 24 and the pilot, which comprises the abutment 28 of the bracket26, and the edge drawing roll 32 are shown with their parts in developedserial relation spaced along the path of movement imparted by themachine to the strip. The pilot abutment 28 and roll 32 are located inadvance of the edge gage 24 along a line of feed indicated by the brokenline 48, passing through the strip engaging surface of the edge gage.The line of Work feed 48, particularly at the left of the edge gage 24,corresponds substantially with the edge of the work including the coverstrip beyond the sewing point of operation of the needle, indicated bythe cross 50. The line of feed 48 in advance of the point of sewingoperations, however, does not correspond with the edge of the wrapperstrip at the right side of the edge gage 24 from which the work ispulled by the sewing and feeding devices. The path of the cover stripedge at the right side of the point of sewing operations through whichthe strip is pulled however, in Fig. 6, corresponds more nearly with abroken line 52 connecting the strip edge engaging surface of the edgegage and abutment 28 of the pilot bracket, the line 52 forming an acuteangle A with the line of feed 48. The pivot 30 of the roll 32 is mountedon the bracket 26 at an angular position in which a plane, representedin edgewise projection by the inclined broken line 54, normal to theaxes of the pivots 30 and 38, forms an acute angle B with the feed line48, the action of the roll 32 being to apply a directional force alongthe line 54 with a widthwise component, drawing the strip into positivecontact with both the edge gage 24 and pilot bracket 26. Preferably,although not essentially, the line 54 and the line 52 form an acuteangle C which is greater than the angle A, the line 54 being the line ofdirectional force applied to the strip and being inclined also at theacute angle B to the line of feed 48. As the work is drawn toward theoperating point 50, slippage of the wrapper strip axially on the roll 32enables the path of the strip edge to be brought into coincidence withthe line of feed 48 and remain there under all degrees of curvaturealong a shoe being operated upon.

As the strip 8 is pulled past the pilot roll 32, its edge may bulge tosome extent in advance of the edge gage or upwardly in Fig. 6 beyond theline 52 and as the edge of the strip engages the surface of the gage 24,its path is changed into the line of feed 48. So long as the edge of thecover strip engages the edge gage 24 and the pilot bracket 26, therewill be a continual drawing action imparted thereto to maintain it inengagement with the surfaces on the respective parts.

To increase the drawing action, the outer end of the roll 32 isroughened by a knurling 56 (see Fig. 3). Necessarily as the roll 32rotates there will be some slippage lengthwise of the roll along themarginal surface of the strip but such slippage will not injure theappearance of the finished shoe since the knurling engages the side ofthe strip which is concealed after being wrapped about the edge of theplatform sole. As the strip is pulled over the roll 32 and is pressedinto engagement with the pilot roll for approximately about theperiphery of the pilot roll, the resulting angular contact insures snugcontact of the strip edge with both the gage and pilot abutment.

To hold the cover strip clear of the sewing point in the machine, inadvance of the pilot roll, and to assist in directing the strip in aneffective manner before reaching the pilot roll, the bracket 26 hasprojecting from it, above the sewing point, a pair of rods 58 and 60.The rod 58 is relatively straight with its free end raised somewhatabove the end secured in the bracket 26 to reduce any tendency towarddisplacement of the strip from the rod as it is drawn into the machineand to support the strip as it approaches the rod 60. The rod 60 is bentat right angles with one arm mounted in the bracket 26 substantiallyparallel to but beneath the rod 58, and the other arm extends downwardlytoward the pilot rolls. The arrangement of the downwardly extending armof the rod 60 prevents the operators line of vision toward the sewingpoint from becoming obscured by the cover strip as it travels from thesupport rod 58 and the location of the rod 60 at its lower end insuresthat the wrapper strip in its downward movement will not interfere withthe stitch forming devices.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and aparticular embodiment having been described, what is claimed is:

1. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation on the edge of'the strip, an edge gage againstwhich the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operatingposition in the machine, and a pilot roll engaging the strip with anormal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line offeed for bringing the strip into positive contact with the edge gage,the combination with means located along the path of the strip inadvance of the pilot roll for pressing the strip into engagement withthe roll for approximately 90 about its periphery to cause the pilotroll to apply a directional force to the strip widthwise toward the edgegage.

2. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation on the edge of the strip, an edge gage againstwhich the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operatingposition in the machine and a pilot roll engaging the strip with anormal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line offeed for bringing the stri into positive contact with the edge gage, thecombination with a second rotatably mounted roll actuated yieldinglytoward the pilot roll and located in advance of the pilot roll forpressing the strip into engagement with the pilot roll for approximately90 about its periphery to apply a directional force to the stripinclined toward the edge gage.

3. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gageagainst which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operatlngposition, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot abutmentspaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edgegage, and a roll engaging frictionally with the strip located betweenthe edge gage and the pilot abutment with a normal to its axis inclinedfrom a line connecting the strip engaging gage and abutment to draw theedge of the strip positively into engagement with said gage andabutment.

4. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gageagainst which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operatingposition, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot abutmentspaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edgegage, a roll engaging frictionally with the strip located between theedge gage and the pilot abutment with a normal to its axis inclined froma line connecting the strip engaging gage and abutment, and means foryieldingly pressing the marginal portion of the strip against the rollfor approximately 90 about its periphery to apply a widthwisedirectional force to the strip toward the gage and abutment.

5. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gageagainst which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operatingposition, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot spaced alongthe path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage comprisingan abutment and a roll engaging frictionally with the strip between theedge gage and the abutment to draw the edge of the strip into positivecontact with both said gage and abutment, the roll applying adirectional force to the strip along a line forming an acute angle witha line connecting the strip engaging surface of the edge gage and theabutment but greater than the angle between the line of feed passingthrough the strip engaging surface of the edge gage and said lineconnecting the surface of the edge gage and the pilot abutment.

6. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips ofmaterial, having devices for feeding and performing an operation alongthe edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip ispressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combinationwith a strip edge engaging pilot spaced along the path of movement ofthe strip in advance of the edge gage, and means for supporting anddirecting the strip toward the pilot comprising a rod bent at rightangles with a horizontal arm secured to the machine and a substantiallyvertical arm projecting downwardly toward the pilot to preventobscurement of the operators line of vision toward the operating pointof the machine.

7. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips ofmaterial, having devices for feeding and performing an operation alongthe edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip ispressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combinationwith a strip edge engaging pilot spaced along the path of movement ofthe strip in advance of the edge gage, means for supporting anddirecting the strip toward the pilot comprising a rod bent at rightangles with a horizontal arm secured to the machine and a substantiallyvertical arm projecting downwardly toward the pilot to preventobscurement of the operators line of vision toward the operating pointof the machine, and a second substantially horizontal rod beneath whichthe bent rod is mounted to support the wrapper strip as it aproaches thebent rod.

8. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip ofmaterial of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding andperforming an operation on the edge of the strip, an edge gage againstwhich the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operatingposition in the machine, and a pilot roll engaging the strip with anormal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line offeed for bringing the strip into positive contact with the edge gage,the combination with a bracket on which the pilot roll is rotatablymounted, a carrier mounted for relative movement on the bracket, asecond roll rotatably mounted on the carrier, and means for actuatingthe carrier yieldingly to press the strip into frictional engagementwith the pilot roll for approximately about its periphery to apply adirectional force to the strip inclined toward the edge gage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,407,903 Quinn Sept. 17, 1946 2,416,767 Miner Mar. 4, 1947 2,446,343Reasor Aug. 3, 1948

